House Committee on Science

BOEHLERT APPLAUDS NOAA/DHS EFFORT TO PROTECT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

WASHINGTON, D.C.. June 18, 2004 – Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) today praised the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for reaching an agreement that will provide for the use of the NOAA All-Hazards Radio System to inform the public about civil emergencies, including chemical spills, missing child alerts, and terrorist threats.

In a May 20, 2003 letter to DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, Boehlert and then-Ranking Minority Member Ralph Hall of Texas urged that the NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) receivers be added as an emergency preparedness kit item and that DHS consider promoting the system on the Department’s website network. “We were recently briefed on the NOAA Weather Radio system and its capability to get warnings to the public for all hazards, including terrorist attacks. We think NOAA’s system should be expanded to deal with homeland security,” wrote Boehlert and Hall. They noted that the NOAA weather radio transmissions “cover 95 percent of the population and about 13 percent of Americans currently own these receivers.”

“NOAA’s weather radio network has been extremely successful in alerting the public to natural disaster threats and has saved countless lives,” said Boehlert. “I applaud NOAA and DHS for implementing this innovative program that will expand the function of the weather radio network to disseminate critical information in the event of a national security emergency. By capitalizing on existing technology, we can further protect the American people.”

The Science Committee has closely examined ways in which the NOAA system could be incorporated into our nation’s homeland security operations. Boehlert led the effort in Congress to educate Members and key officials of the important homeland security function that could be performed by the NWR network. In May 2003, Boehlert and Hall held a press conference urging a partnership between DHS and NOAA, such as the one that was announced yesterday. Boehlert also arranged to have weather radios provided to every Member of the Committee to further educate them on the advanced notification technology.

The memorandum of agreement was signed by Admiral (ret.) Conrad Lautenbacher, Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and Frank Libutti, Undersecretary of Homeland Security for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection. The agreement will remain in effect for five years.